Book #70:

The Tell by Amy Griffin (275 pages).  I heard about this memoir due to it being an Oprah Book Club pick. A mother of 4 can’t stop running or pushing her body beyond the point of just being healthy. Amy Griffin has been like this her entire life; well, at least since middle school. This is very well-written and is excellent on audio. There are some pretty graphic flashbacks about some traumatic events in Amy’s life, so trigger warnings apply here. These scenes are not gratuitous but are very vividly drawn, so it’s a stressful read/listen in that regard. I recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in the connections between trauma and our bodies, as well as the psychology and science of repressed memories. A solid 4 stars from me.

Book #71:

My Friends by Fredrik Backman (Length: 448 pages). I’ve read that readers either adore Backman’s writing style, or they find it very annoying. I’m firmly a Backman fan, and his novel Beartown is on my top 10 books of all-time list. This novel, his most recent, is most like the Beartown style of writing than some of his other novels in that it focuses on youth and trauma they experience at the hands of trusted adults in their lives. Here, the central theme is art, or more specifically a painting by a young man, painted in a rough part of a town, with his friends who are experiencing very tough childhoods. (Trigger warnings for abuse here: child and spousal). I adored the friendship story at the center of this novel, told in flashbacks, and the present-day account, in equal measure. This is a memorable story, well-told, per usual. 5 stars from me.

Book #72:

This is Happiness by Niall Williams (Length: 390 pages).   This work of literary fiction is the first I’ve read by this award-winning author. I love novels set in Ireland so that’s why I picked this one up. Read this one for its beautiful writing and not for the plot as there isn’t much of one. This gorgeous novel is about the small town of Faha, County Clare, on the western seaboard of Ireland, told from the perspective of 17-year-old Noel who is sent to live with his grandparents in 1958, after his mother falls ill. Noel is writing this book as a 78-year-old man, looking back. In this story, electricity is being brought to Faha for the very first time, and 60-year-old Christy, hired to help talk the townspeople into signing up to wire their homes and connect into grid, lodges with Noel’s grandparents. Noel then becomes friends with Christy and learns that Christy is in Faha primarily to apologize to his first love, whom he left at the altar years ago. This is so beautifully told and brought me to tears in the end. It’s slow going at first but once you lose yourself in the language, you’ll want to keep reading. 5 stars.